South Korea's President-elect, Park Geun-hye, used her first major speech on Thursday to warn of the risks posed by a hostile North Korea and also fired a political shot across the bows of Japan's incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Soldiers danced in Pyongyang's plazas as North Korea announced Wednesday that leader Kim Jong Un was named marshal, a title cementing his status atop the authoritarian nation's military as he makes key changes to the 1.2 million-man force.

In the political world, Kim Jong il of North Korea was a despot and nuclear antagonist. In the sporting world, he might have been the only guy ever to wear platform shoes, a bouffant hairdo and “Dear Leader” embroidered on his bowling shirt.